Awe and Wonder Podcast: AAC & AT

S6 E2: More Leaders & Changemakers featuring Karen Kangas

As an Occupational Therapist specializing in seating, positioning, mobility, and assistive technology, Karen brings her expertise to both clinical practice and education. Her approach emphasizes that supporting people with disabilities requires building strong relationships and considering each person's complete circumstances. Rather than viewing assistive technology as a solution in itself, Karen sees it as one tool within the broader context of daily living and learning. She emphasizes that our fundamental role is to create learning opportunities through meaningful activities, not through technology alone.
Resources: Interview: Empowering Movement: Karen Kangas on Transformative Therapies for Children with Complex Disabilities A Closer Look at Access (video)

S6 E1: More Leaders & Changemakers featuring Glenna Wright-Gallo

Glenna Wright-Gallo serves as the Assistant Secretary in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) at the U.S. Department of Education. She played a key role in developing two influential resources: the Myths and Facts document and the National Education Technology Plan (NETP), which clarify available support systems and their intended purposes. Drawing from her diverse experiences as someone who uses assistive technology, a parent, and an educational leader, Glenna advocates passionately for assistive technology and believes that all students can learn.

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E9 Vision: Krista Wilkinson

Dr. Krista Wilkinson published an article on evidence-based approach to AAC design for individuals with cortical visual impairment (CVI) based on the experience of Emma, a young woman with CVI. In this episode Krista explains the three pillars of an evidence-based practice approach (service providers, researchers, and families/clients) and describes three domains that are important considerations for AAC users with CVI: skills brought by the individual, responsibilities of the communication partner, and design choices for the AAC system.
 
Resource Article-
An evidence-based approach to augmentative and alternative communication design for individuals with cortical visual impairment: https://pubs.asha.org/doi/full/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-22-00397

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E8 Vision: Whitney Van Klinken

Whitney Van Klinken is a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) at Yakima Children's Village-Multicare. She talks about her experiences working with children and adults doing Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) evaluations, including for those with vision impairments. She and Brenda discuss considerations when evaluating communication systems for students who are blind or have low vision or CVI. Together they share stories of using switches with students, observing vision behaviors and examples of the power of presuming competence.
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
Children's Village- Multicare https://www.yakimachildrensvillage.org/
Hand under hand technique: https://www.nationaldb.org/media/doc/HandUnderHandTechnique_a.pdf
Partner Assisted Scanning (PAS): https://www.cajonvalley.net/Page/20599
PODD communication books: https://www.novitatech.com.au/podd-communication-books/
Adapted Switch Labs (ASL): https://www.asl-inc.com/
Low vision and assistive technology blog by Veronica Lewis: https://veroniiiica.com/

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E7 Vision: Lynn Elko

Lynn and her daughter Emma struggled to find a way for Emma, who has Cortical Vision Impairment (CVI), to have access to a robust vocabulary. Together, working through page setup, navigation methods and symbol representation, they figured out what worked for Emma and called it See CVI, Speak AAC.
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
See CVI Speak AAC: https://seecvispeakaac.com/
Comprehensive Resource List provided via Lynn Elko: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GINW6gNUpAMZfTn9weU4wWXOUmWsEhw8/view?usp=drive_link
An Evidenced-Based Approach to AAC Design for Individuals with CVI (Published in AJSLP with open access): https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-22-00397
 

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E6 Vision: Kathee Scoggin & Emma Packard

Kathee Scoggin and Emma Packard both work with students who have combined vision and hearing loss including deaf-blindness and support the Washington DeafBlind Program https://wsds.wa.gov/deaf-blind/.
In this episode of the podcast Kathee and Emma share stories from their numerous experiences working with students who have combined vision and hearing loss. These stories call out important tips for working with this population, including: considerations for starting tactile symbols, what a good relationship between adults and students can do to improve communication skills, and what adults can learn when they provide adequate wait time for students with combined vision and hearing loss.
 
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
National Center for Deafblindness https://www.nationaldb.org/
Learning Media Assessment Sensory Channels Form https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/learning-center/learning-media-assessment/
Deafblind Intervener Modules https://www.nationaldb.org/products/modules/ohoa/
Can You Feel The Thunder (book) https://www.amazon.com/Can-Feel-Thunder-Lynn-McElfresh/dp/068982324X
Child of the Silent Night (book) https://www.amazon.com/Child-Silent-Night-Fisher-Hunter/dp/0395068355
Washington DeafBlind Program https://wsds.wa.gov/deaf-blind/

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E5 Vision: Marci Revelli

Marci Revelli is a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) who has completed numerous AAC evaluations for kids with complex needs including vision. In this episode she talks about questions SLPs can ask families that give clues about the student's vision and shares stories of AAC evaluations with students who have low vision or CVI. Marci shares that pulling in all team members (especially family), taking AAC evaluations/trials slow, and trialing AAC systems in different settings with different people are key to finding the right AAC system for a child with low vision/CVI.
 
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
AAC By The Bay Conference at the Bridge School: https://www.bridgeschool.org/outreach/aac-by-the-bay/
Perkins AAC CVI course: https://www.perkins.org/course/augmentative-and-alternative-communication-aac-and-cortical-cerebral-visual-impairment-cvi/
Texas School for the Blind learning modules: https://www.tsbvi.edu/statewide-resources/professional-development/online-learning
College of Optometrists in Vision Development: https://www.covd.org/
Bridging Voice: https://bridgingvoice.org/
Seattle Children's Hospital AAC Evaluation: https://www.seattlechildrens.org/clinics/augmentative-alternative-communication/
 

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E4 Vision: Ting Siu

Ting is a Teacher of Blind and Low Vision Students (TVI) and coordinates the Northwest Center for Assistive Technology Training (CATT-NW) at the WA State School for the Blind (WSSB). In this episode Ting cautions about the ableist perspective of prioritizing vision with students and instead asking ourselves what the student can still do with their sensory access. Ting also stresses the importance of introducing technology- any tools or systems that help people access and engage with information better- as soon as students are seeking and needing access to their environment.
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
CATT-NW https://www.wssb.wa.gov/services/northwest-center-assistive-technology-training-catt-nw
National Federation of the Blind- Parents of Blind Children https://nfb.org/our-community/parents-blind-children
American Printing House https://www.aph.org/
Adaptive Design Association- Tangible Symbols https://www.adaptivedesign.org/communicationcards#:~:text=Tangible%20symbols%20are%20appropriate%20for,the%20communication%20partner%20can%20interpret.
Christopher Hills YouTube Channel for Switch Technology https://www.youtube.com/user/icdhills
Perkins Paths to Technology Newsletter: https://www.perkins.org/resource/paths-to-technology-newsletter/
 

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC & AT S5 E3 Vision: Tanna Neufeld

In this episode of the Awe and Wonder AAC & AT podcast Tanna Neufleld, SLP, discusses which students may be at risk for vision involvement and behaviors parents and practitioners can look for that might give clues that vision is impacted, and about using a student's preferred sensory modality. Tanna also talks about how her own vision diagnosis plays a role in her life and about the technology supports she uses in various settings.
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
Stargardt Disease https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/eye-conditions-and-diseases/stargardt-disease
WA Department of Services for the Blind: https://dsb.wa.gov/ Lighthouse for the Blind https://lhblind.org/
Perkins School for the Blind ELearning https://www.perkins.org/perkins-elearning/
AACcessible.org The Stacks vision resources https://elink.io/p/aac-communication-boards-and-books-91aa5c2
Screening Tool (click "Blind/Low Vision/Deaf HH Resources" then "Three Pronged Approach") https://www.dcyf.wa.gov/services/child-dev-support-providers/esit/practice-guidance#tpa

Awe and Wonder Podcast AAC &AT S5 E2 Vision: Amanda Soper

Amanda Soper is a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) and Teacher of the Vison Impaired (TVI) in Washington D.C. In this podcast she discusses cerebral vision impairment and characteristics or visual behaviors you might notice in children. Amanda also explains how she uses semantic compaction language systems like Unity to support students with low vision.
Resources mentioned in this podcast:
AACreATively Communicating https://www.aacreativelycommunicating.com/about
Vision and the Brain: Understanding Cerebral Vision Impairment in Children https://www.aph.org/product/vision-and-the-brain-understanding-cerebral-visual-impairment-in-children/
CVI Profile https://www.pattan.net/assets/PaTTAN/5a/5a5e836e-3369-4b95-9210-7e440b9fa8a9.pdf
CVI Range https://cviresources.com/cvi-range-assessment/
Unity language system https://www.prentrom.com/prc_advantage/unity-language-system
Conferences: ATIA https://www.atia.org/conference/ Closing the Gap https://www.closingthegap.com/conference/ CEC https://cecconvention.org/